"A True Story"

As it appeared in The Atlantic Monthly for November, 1874 (Vol. XXXIV, No. CCV), immediately after a 40-line poem titled "Nocturne," by S. W., and right before an 8-page chapter from "A Rebel's Reflections," a memoir of the Civil War by George Cary Eggleston that had been appearing in the magazine in monthly installments since June.
The Barrett Collection manuscript of the story is continuously available "behind" the pages below — you can see the manuscript by clicking on any part of the text.